Governor fighting for rich families

Published 8:06 pm, Monday, August 31, 2009

Insults don't change problems

In a recent letter to the Connecticut Post, I suggested that Monroe's streets and roads were badly in need of repair and proposed that first selectman Tom Buzi find some money to fix the problem. It is a rather straightforward suggestion given the deplorable state of our streets. Mr. Buzi did not respond to my criticism in these pages, probably because he appreciates the consequence of 12 years of neglect, but three of his minions did. Three quarters of the Democratic members of Town Council, Ms. Martin, Mr. Halliwell and Mr. Knapp, chose to circle the wagons around the first selectman, attack me personally and most regrettably defend the indefensible. Huff and puff and spin numbers as they like, they cannot help but know that not nearly enough money has been spent on road repairs and resurfacing on their watch.

These three, who accuse me of being a "Republican activist" while they moonlight as members of the Democratic Town Committee, seem to admit that they just can't do any better. And, rather than acknowledge the poor condition of our roads and pledging to work to fix them, they resort to the preferred modus operandi of their ilk, dismissing criticism by disparaging the critic. While I am not the Republican activist they allege, it is clear from their tone that this phrase is their code for "evil-doer." With this not-so-clever ruse, they hope to characterize me in such a way that my observations, no matter how obvious, will be dismissed.

Don't you know it is unseemly to call constituents names? And, how dumb do you think the average Monroe motorist is anyway? You do not need to be biased toward anyone to know that a drive down Cross Hill could result in the need for a kidney transplant. Can't you just stop whining, start thinking and please start resurfacing some roads?

A question for Gov. M. Jodi Rell (for whom I voted): What "families" are you fighting for when you say you can't raise taxes? The tax increase would be $20 a week for a couple filing jointly with an income of $600,000 a year. That's $11,500 in salary per week! They can't spare $20?

The tax increase would affect high incomes only. Stop saying you are fighting for families, or define which "families."

You want to cut spending for technical schools, nursing homes, dental care for the elderly poor, services for emotionally disabled and blind children, libraries, job-training programs, magnet schools. You want a 40 percent increase in bus fares and a 10 percent rise in rail fares (while the state is trying to get more people to use public transportation).

This is wrong, wrong, wrong.

Marianne Antezzo

Stratford

Good news on

AT&T hirings

It was reported recently in the Connecticut Post that AT&T will hire 100 people despite a union dispute. First, congratulations to the Post for reporting the good news, and congratulations to AT&T for such a positive move in these clearly difficult economic circumstances, where the tendency and need for most businesses is to cut and scale back.

Since the start of this recession, tens of thousands of Connecticut residents have lost their jobs and those losses result in many people losing their desire to spend, the lifeblood of our economy, which then results in even greater job loss. Knowing that some companies, like AT&T, are finding ways to bring more jobs to our state, in this case partially as a result of the company's expanding wireless and U-Verse business, is clearly a hopeful sign for not only the unfortunate unemployed but also for those holding back on purchases or just going out to dinner.

Congratulations to the Post and to AT & T. Such good news will serve to hasten the end of the recession.